The present invention relates to sighting attachments for shotguns and more particularly to attachments for elevating a line of sight above a shotgun barrel.
Shotguns typically have a hardwood stock piece that extends from the receiver rearwardly to a butt plate. The stock includes a forward narrow hand grip section rearwardly adjacent the receiver and a vertically flaring cheek piece rearward of the hand grip. Atop the cheek piece is a rounded "comb" upon which the shooter rests his cheek bone or maxilla while aiming and firing the weapon. The angle of the comb as well as the elevational spacing between it and the line of sight varies with different brands of firearms as well as different firearm types. Needless to say, the physical characteristics of shooters also vary, on an even greater scale. It follows that some shooters will find the comb of some firearms more comfortable than others. Aside from comfort, it is very important that the shooter keep his head in as nearly an upright posture as possible in order to maximize his field of vision. This is vitally important to trapshooters who must respond almost instantaneously to fast flying "clay pigeons" in order to score well. The sooner the shooter sees his target, the longer he has to take proper aim and fire.
Shotguns utilized in trapshooting are often specially designed with a comb that is relatively close to the elevation of the gun barrel. They also often include an elevated rib that extends along the length of the barrel to slightly raise the line of sight for the shooter above the gun barrel. This is done for several reasons. Firstly, in trapshooting, many rounds are fired during the competition. The gun barrel therefore becomes heated. Heat waves emanating from the gun barrel tend to obscure the line of sight of the shooter and can adversely affect his final score. Also, it is desirable to elevate the line of sight as discussed above to improve the shooter's field of vision. An additional advantage in elevating the line of sight for the shooter is that the recoil impact is lowered more toward the center of mass of the shooter. The effect of the recoil may therefore be reduced and is felt as a significantly lighter jolt. Further, since the line of recoil force is produced at a lower position along the stock, the resulting moment arm is varied slightly and results in the muzzle end of the shotgun remaining stable, rather than lurching upwardly.
Conventional attachments have been produced that change the elevation of the butt plate or increase the elevation of the rib along a shotgun barrel. However, the two important areas of the firearm, the rib along the barrel and the stock comb, are not taken into consideration together. Supposedly higher ribs and stock arrangements have not been provided because of adaptation problems envisioned due to "parallax" or the convergence of the line of sight of the shooter with the trajectory of the charge. An elevated rib of a fixed nature would produce a line of sight that would converge at a specific point with a charge trajectory. Any target location nearer to or further from that point could not be aimed at with accuracy. Therefore, it becomes desirable to obtain an attachment that includes provisions for adjustably elevating both the rib and comb of a shotgun stock.